Stocking up (open)

Janet panted as she burst through the door to the shop. This was her first stop of the day, Sugarplum's Sweets Shop! She had woken up this morning, all excited. She marked one day on the calendar that she aloud herself to come here, for otherwise she would be eating sweets all the time, which is not a very healthy diet. She had gotten ready as fast as possible, while still looking presentable before running all the way here. She smiled around at the shop as she struggled to catch her breath.

As soon as she could breath again she began to wander the store, examining the sweets with a small smile. She had to stock up for the summer because this was the only day she got! Granted, she usually got more sweets later on anyways from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes but those weren't for her. Those were for pranks.

Cora stopped outside the sweet shop, a bag of her previous purchases in her right hand. The young blonde looked almost suspicious stopped just beyond the doorway, looking up and down the street several times. In reality, she was checking that her brother was no where in sight. Today was the first day Cora had been permitted to shop for her school stuff on her own, but her brother had been given strict instructions to look after her - and she was sure that would mean strict instructions to make sure she didn't spend all her money on sweets.

Content with the fact her brother did not appear to be in the immediate vicinity Cora grinned to herself and skipped on into the shop, reducing the skip to a slightly bouncier step than usual once she was inside and dodging the many witches and wizards within. Usually the only time Cora was permitted wizarding sweets was on the train on the way to school - the rest of the year, if she was permitted sweets at all - it was always plain ol' muggle brands that her father could pick up at any newsagents he passed on the way home.

This year would be different though. She'd be allowed to hogsmeade at the weekend where she could purchase any amount of sweets she wished and there was no one who could stop her. Cora just saw this visit as a trial run for what awaited her. She stopped next to a shelf, eyes skimming over the range of Exploding Bonbons, Fizzing Whizzbees and Sugar Quills, just a small selection of what she was sure was sold at Honeydukes.

Whilst gazing, voices from a group of boys a few years older than her drifted over the shelves, laughing and jeering with each other. Cora froze on the spot, eyes wide. Oh no... Cora thought to herself, ducking down low so her head wasn't visible over the shelf to her brothers group of friends. She began creeping along, not really paying attention to where she was going when she bumped into an older girl than herself. "AH!" she squeeked, jumping back and suddenly gasping and holding out her hands. "Oh! I'm so sorry... Ah.." she squeeked and ducked her head again, hoping she hadn't been heard.

Janet searched the shelves. Acid pops, fever fudge, pear drops, pumpkin pasties, charm choice, all went in her bag. The huge grin on her face showed just how much she was enjoying herself. She continued grabbing her favorite sweets, which was pretty much all of them.

She only looked up when several boys started getting loud, laughing at each other, and being boys. Janet simply rolled her eyes and went back to what she was doing, her bag overflowing by then. She was just reaching for another sweet when someone bumped into her form behind. She gasped, startled and dropped her bag, candies going everywhere. She turned to see a girl you're than her gasp and hold out her hands. The girl apologized before ducking down with a squeak. Janet tilted her head at the girl but smiled. "It's quite alright. It was an accident."

She knelt down and picked up her bag, beginning to gather up some of the candy. "My name is Janet. Janet Shinings."

After having checked once more that none of the boys were heading her way she looked back at the girl, only just noticing she had caused her to drop all the sweets over the floor. Cora's face glowed bright red and she dropped down to the floor to help her gather them all back up, carefully reaching under the counter to find a few acid pops that had slid there. As the girl said her name, Cora smiled lightly, surprised that she didn't seem angry. Cora looked to her, putting her finger to her lips in a "shh" sign.

"Cora, Sorry... I can be a bit of a clutz sometimes...."

She explained quietly, barely more than a whisper but loud enough for Janet to hear, letting out a soft sigh before trying to peek through the shelf again. The boys appears to have started throwing loose sweets at each other which had earned them the scournful glare from the shopkeeper, who looked to be heading there way. This was good, hopefully her brother would be thrown out and she could continue to shop in peace. She turned her attention back to the girl and her many sweets, sucking her cheeks as she tried to think how to make it up to her.

"Can I pay for the sweets? It's the least I could do after knocking them everywhere..."

The girl dropped to the floor beside Janet within a moment to help pick up the sweets. She even noticed a couple Janet hadn't seen. She seemed very embarrassed and apologetic which makes it better in Janet's eyes. It wasn't a huge thing anyways, it's not like she was hurt, or something broke. The girl put one finger to her lips, signaling Janet to be quiet. She tilted her head with a slightly confused frown.

The girl introduced herself as Cora and explained she could be a klutz. Janet chuckled at that and nodded. "We've all been there." She said, voice a whisper because they were apparently being quiet? Janet peeked in the direction Cora kept looking and smiled as she saw the boys getting in trouble. "So what's going on over there? Is one of them your crush or something?" She asked, trying to figure out why they were crouched down and whispering.

She sat back on her heels with a smile as Cora offered to pay for the candies. "Oh, no. That's ok. You probably have a much better use for your money. You don't owe me anything." She grabbed the last candy off the floor and stuck it in her bag. "Anyways I would hate for anyone other than me to spend this much on my candy."

Cora raised both her eyebrows as Janet asked her why they were being quiet, the suggestion that one of the older boys was a crush made her blush even more prominent on her pale cheeks. "What?! No! No..." she suddenly realised she had been shouting and grew quiet again, although thankfully it seemed like her brothers troup were being ushered from the shop now. "It's my brother... I shouldn't be in here." she explained quietly, watching the door jingle shut behind them before beginning to rise back to her feet again.

Once standing she reached her hand out to help Janet up also, before brushing off the knees of her torn jeans where they'd got sugar dust on them from the floor. As the girl mentioned that she didn't need payment Cora frowned slightly, before nodding. "Well... if you're sure... I mean... I'm just going to end up spending the money on that many sweets for myself. You'd be saving me from a sugar high." she commented with a toothy grin, looking alongside and noticing the chocolate frogs a little further along the shelf. She picked one up and span it over, reading about the collectors cards.

"I'm not allowed wizarding sweets really... It kind of sucks because it means my card collection is embarrassingly small..." she looked to the girls wide range of sweets thoughtfully for a moment. "Do you have many of the cards?" She asked, expecting that she was probably a master collector if her regular sweet shopping was anything like the collection she had gathered today.

Janet laughed at Cora's reaction as she blushed.  She went on to explain that her brother was among the boys now being kicked out. Eh, that made sense. Janet raised an eyebrow. "So if you're not supposed to be in here, why are you?" She asked with a small smile before accepting the help up.

Janet brushed herself off as she listened to the girl trying to persuade her into letting her pay for the candy. "No, I insist. Forbidden candy is the best candy, you should buy your own, in fact.." She pulled out a couple sickles, holding them out to the girl with a grin. "Take these! The more candy the better, especially if you have to stock up on it."

Cora explained she wasn't allowed to have wizarding sweets, to which Janet gasped. "That should be a crime or something, though I guess it's all the more reason you should stock up here. I only let myself come here once a summer or else I'd be eating way too many sweets, though I get my fair share from Honeyduke's and places like that anyways." She then continued to say that she had a small card collection, before asking if Janet had any. Janet smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I do! I don't get them from here but I always get some at Honeydukes. Hey, I have a bunch of duplicates that I use for trading that you could have, if you want!" Janet's eyes sparkled at the idea. "I don't trade much anyways and I'm sure I'll get lots of them over the summer."

Cora gave a sly smile as she was asked why she was in the shop if she shouldn't have been and just gave a little shrug. "This is the first year I've been allowed to do my school shopping on my own... So... I've never been allowed in here before." She explained lightly. It hadn't really occured to her that the rules also would have applied to her brother who should not have been in the sweet shop either - although it wasn't as if he'd been looking to buy anything. "Normally my father comes with me... but he's a muggle and the place freaks him out a bit so we just rush through."

As the girl offered her the sickles Cora's brows raised before shaking her head, smiling lightly. "I can't take that... I have plenty, and I was planning on getting plenty of the... what did you call it? Forbidden Candy!" she giggled lightly. "I'll have to hide it under my bed and hope the frogs don't escape." she commented as she grabbed a few more chocolate frog boxes off the shelf. As Janet continued speaking Cora's gaze passed over the shelves, before her ears pricked at the mention of honeydukes.

"OH! You've been to honeydukes?!" she asked excitedly, before realising what a stupid question that was. Ofcourse she had... she was clearly older than Cora and had probably been to Hogsmeade plenty during the weekends at school. "I've never been... I'm going into my third year now though so I'm looking forward to visiting Hogsmeade." She started grabbing other varietys of sweets to add to the small pile building in her arms, carefully playing real life tetris with the growing stack to make sure it didn't fall. As the girl offered her her duplicate cards, Cora's eyes lit up. "For real?! I would love them! Although... now you really should let me buy you some candy or something. I can't just take them off you for nothing."

Janet nodded as Cora explained why she was in the forbidden shop. "That makes sense. But, hey! Shopping on you own is a huge deal! I remember my first year I was aloud to walk anywhere on my own around my village. It seemed like such a big deal even though it was just down the street."

When Cora refused the money Janet raised an eyebrow and shrugged before putting it away. She giggled as Cora used her words back at her. Janet raised an eyebrow with a mischievous grin. "You could always get a toad cage or something from down the road for the chocolate frogs." She giggled at her own idea.

Janet nodded when Cora asked if she'd been to Honeyduke's. "Oh, yeah. I live in Hogshead village so it's a pretty regular hang out." She smiled at the girl's explanation. "Oh, you go to Hogwarts? Oh, well I guess most wizards and witches in this area do.. but anyways, what house are you in? I'm gonna be a fifth year Slytherin next year."

The younger girl's face lit up as she accepted the offer of Janet's duplicate cards. "Yeah for real! It would just be cruel to joke about something like that." She then insisted on letting her buy Janet something. Janet pursed her lips and considered it for a moment.

"Well how about this? I neeeed some help picking an animal. I want one that can come with me to Hogwarts which means a toad, a cat, or an owl. I think toads are gross, my Dad's allergic to cats, so that leaves an owl. That's ok though because I love owls! I just don't know what breed of owl I want."

Cora smiled as Janet seemed to recognise what a big deal it was, nodding lightly. "I'm not completely on my own... I mean... My brothers meant to have stayed with me but he ran off when we arrived, and dads sitting in the leaky cauldron waiting for us." she shrugged slightly and picked up a pack of every flavour beans, turning it over to read the flavours included a moment, her nose wrinkled and she looked visibly disgusted as she read about vomit flavoured ones and put the pack back quite quickly - she wasn't going to take the chance with that one. As Janet suggested the toad cage Cora raised her brows, impressed, and slightly miffed she hadn't thought of it herself in the first place. "That's brilliant! I'll grab one next I think..." she giggled, before grabbing another chocolate frog to add to her pile for good measure.

Cora continued to add to her little pile of goodies as Janet spoke about her home, getting to the point where she now needed to use her chin to help balance the pile and stop it slipping away. She looked towards Janet, intrigued as she said she lived in the hogs head... she hadn't even considered that people lived there all year round... she kind of assumed they just apparated in when the stores were open and the rest of the time the place was empty... like a student tourist hotspot. Although if that was the case there would little point them ever opening in the week.

"That's so cool that you live there. Do you get to go home instead of living in the dorms at school? Or at weekends? I couldn't imagine living so close to hogwarts all year round..." she pursed her lips a moment as she thought, before grinning. "Do you get to see what happens at the school during the holidays? I bet the teachers all throw parties and stuff when we're gone." she laughed and imagined the school lit up at night with flashing party lights of all colours, fireworks and blaring music. Although the halls were bound to be empty without the students around.

The only idea more intriguing then that was the suggestion that they go and find Janet a pet. Now animals was a passion of Cora's and her whole expression lit up at the suggestion, almost unable to contain her excitement. "Oh my god, yes! We will go and get you the best, cutest, most glorious owl ever. I have a cat so I wasn't allowed an owl too, but I hear they have such amazing personalities. Like all animals I guess..." she squeeked as her pile of sweets started to sway, only just catching it. "But I should go pay for this all first!" she turned, carefully weaving her way towards the counter to pay.